International Railway Journal - May 2008 - (Page 28)

Italy High-speed: on the home By the end of 2009, Italy will finally complete construction of a 630km high-speed railway from Turin and Milan to Naples, while construction of the next big project, the Brenner Base Tunnel, will also start next year, reports David Briginshaw. K EY milestones in the development of the Italian rail network will be reached by December 2009. Six of the most important cities in Italy will finally be connected by high-speed railway, bringing major reductions in journey times and a huge increase in capacity. This will be coupled with the completion of some important track doubling projects. But the story does not end there: more high-speed lines are planned and work should start next year on the massive Brenner Base Tunnel project on the vital trans-Alpine link to Austria and Germany. High-speed lines are already in service from Turin to Novara, Milan to Treviglio, and Padua to Venice on the northern west-east axis, and from Florence via Rome to Naples on the north-south corridor. The Mount Vesuvius bypass from Naples to Salerno has just opened, and the important competitive with air (Table 1). This will 182km Milan - Bologna section will also release capacity on the existing open in December. This will be network for a major expansion of followed in December 2009 by the freight and regional passenger services. completion of: All the high-speed lines are being the 78km Bologna - Florence section, equipped with the European Rail Traffic of which 73km is in tunnel beneath the Management System (ERTMS) and Apennine mountains European Train Control System (ETCS) Novara - Milan, 40km Level 2 to allow 300km/h operation. the final 18km section of the 204.6km Rome Table 2: Major urban projects Naples line, and associated with high-speed upgrading the Florence City Work Progress/completion Rome Direttissima, Turin 12km cross-city line 35% complete Europe’s first high-speed New Porta Susa station Opens 2009 railway. Bologna 17.7km cross-city line 52% complete Completion of the these New HS station Opens 2011 projects will cut the Milan Florence 8km cross-city line 17% complete - Rome journey time from New Belfiore through station Opens 2014 Rome New 10km section 80% complete 4h 30min today - although Upgrading Tiburtina station Completed 2009 a couple of business trains Naples New 6.2km section 58% complete do the trip in 4h 5min - to New Afragola HS station Opens 2010 3 hours, making rail highly 28 IRJ May 2008

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International Railway Journal - May 2008 Contents This Month News Transit News Market News Technology News News Analysis Italian Railways on the Road to Recovery High-Speed: On the Home Straight Korea Develops High-Speed Ambitions Setting New Standards for New Rolling Stock India Solves Traction Motor Conundrum Weathering the Storm with Climatic Testing Technology Drives US Train Inspections Rendezvous Full Contact List Advertisers Index The Last Word

International Railway Journal - May 2008

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